Racheli S. is the daughter of a friend of mine. She told this
story to her mother who told it to me. Only in Israel...
Racheli was sitting behind the bus driver one day when two
little boys who live in our neighborhood got on after a hard
day at cheder, one -- an eight-year- old Yemenite boy
with very long payos and his friend, who is from a
standard Ashkenazic yeshivishe home. She overheard
their conversation and observed what happened, and was happy
that she did.
The bus driver had a full head of long, very curly hair --
the kind of hair-style that one often sees on carefree young
women. That was the only item on his head, though he did wear
one very small earring.
As they were paying the bus fare, the second boy tilted his
head towards his Yemenite friend and bragged to the bus
driver, "He got a 94 on his Chumash test!"
The long-haired, curly-headed bus driver responded with words
of praise, and then gave the `hero' two shekels as a prize
for doing so well. The boys went down the aisle and sat
down.
Almost immediately, the driver called the two boys back and
at the next red light, wrote a note to the mother of the
Yemenite boy, "So that she should know that it's O.K. where
the two shekels came from."
Racheli and the two boys disembarked, and Racheli noticed
that the prize-winner looked very troubled.
She asked him what was wrong, and the eight-year-old boy
replied, "Do you think that this is honestly my money? Maybe
it really belongs to the Egged Bus Company?"
Makes you proud, doesn't it?
